Frozen Temple
by BlackCavern
Summary: FE 3, Book 2. Chapter 13...I think. Ice Dragon's Temple from the prespective of a faceless mercenary. One-Shot.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fire Emblem

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"Ah! It's so cold, what could possibly be up on a frozen mountain?" a nearby soldier grumbled. "And we're following a human chameleon to boot." someone else added on.

A hefty mercenary elbowed a horseman's knee, "Tch, listen to that talk. Looks there might be a bout of mutiny. What are we up here for Kalute?"

The horseman looked over, "We're not on a ship Caid, it's called rebellion. We're going to a sacred place, rumor says that it's the tomb of dragons." The average soldier didn't know too much about Prince Marth's current intentions. They had been running all over Archanea looking to fix something called the Shield of Seals. They had managed to secure all twelve orbs so it was a mystery why they were here.

While Caid considered the answer a red haired myrmidon carried on the stream of complaints. "Mier sure didn't mention scaling a mountain when she explained the contract."

"Hm...we've climbed so high already, it's getting hard to breathe." Kalute dusted frost off of his horse's mane. "If we climb any higher then fighting will be out of the question, and we'll have to leave the horses too."

"My point exactly, couldn't we just pick up a nice easy job at the guild?" the myrmidon muttered.

Kalute glanced upwards making sure their leader Mier was out of ear-shot before replying, "Don't hold your breath Radd, you know that's out of the question. The guild's practically under Archanean control and that means we'll be working for Emperor Hardin. Mier still has a bone to chew with that one."

Silence fell over the mercenary group as they marched among the other soldier's of Prince Marth's army. The conversation had left most of the breathless due to the lack of oxygen.

"Almost there! Ice Dragon Temple dead ahead!" someone in the front yelled back.

Kalute sat up straining his neck to get a glimpse of temple. An old building, the once white marble had turned an unsightly brown-gray from time and abuse from the elements. It stood out against the pristine snow, built a few hundred feet under the peak.

"Do you think we'll get to fight some dragons?" Radd asked spellbound by the building.

Kalute nodded, "Yep, they'll defend their home for sure."

Awe filled the soldiers as the gates of the temple were slowly pushed open, sharp cracks echoed through the mountain air as ice fell in large icicles. A woman with an axe strapped to her back came up to Kalute.

"Call everyone together, we're heading this." Mier ordered her voice laced with confidence.

Kalute nodded and waved the members of their mercenary group over from his high vantage point on the horse. As they went through the marble gates Kalute cast a cautious glance at Prince Marth and Sir Jeigan, they stared back with determined eyes.

There was a brief period of darkness but as they entered into the first chamber of the temple the ice crystals lining the walls lit their path. They were greeted by a massive rectangular room, the walls decorated with engravings depicting historical scenes.

Kalute nocked his killer bow, eyes looking for the smallest sign of attack. He had expected dragons to be lying around but the chamber was empty. Gathering the horse reins he navitated the large statues that littered the ground.

"Now where do you suppose those lizards are?" Caid murmured.

Mier gripped her axe and made a hand signal to Kalute who rallied the rest of the troops. Soldiers were starting to troop in behind them but kept their distance.

Caid examined one of the mounds of ice that were distributed about randomly then tentatively poked it with his sword. Suddenly the ice started to crack, a tail seperated from the mound then legs and head broke out of the mound. A loud roar seemed to shake the very ground as the ice dragon threw back it's head preparing to attack.

"Pull back!" Mier roared as Kalute loosed an arrow from his bow. The killer arrow landed directly behind the dragon's horns where it should have punctured the skull. The ice dragon shook it's head breaking the shaft but the point stuck fast. Roaring with fustration it launched itself at Kalute.

The horseman dropped his bow letting it hang from a cord and wrenched out a sword. Swerving sharply to one side his sword grazed a wing, Kalute pressed his wrist against his forehead, his skull was throbbing with the dragon's roar and the horse shreiking with fright making his vision swim with bright dots.

The horse thrashed about it's instinct telling it to run but Kalute kept a merciless hold on the rein. He kept calm and mentally begged the horse to do the same. Nocking another arrow he released it clean through the dragon's wing.

Other ice dragons were awakening from the mounds of ice, their wings smashing soldiers left and right and their freezing breath breaking down walls and ornaments. A combined effort of Radd's sword and Mier's axe felled the first dragon, there was no time to rest before another one came thundering down on them.

Kalute sent a flurry of arrows at a nearby dragon that was being menaced at by lances. The thick tail broke the weapons as if they were tiny twigs and a blast of freezing wind caught some unlucky soldier.

Trampling soldiers like ants it headed for Kalute, every step it took felt like an earthquake. A deep uneraseable fear rooted itself deep in Kalute's person as he fired arrows into the dragon's head and neck. He kept the horse backing up and just as he was about to hit a wall the dragon shreiked, slumped down, gave one last shudder and died.

Suddenly Kalute felt a massive tug of pity for his dead prey. The dragon would've been a sight to behold in another time, it's frost colored scales more spectacular then any other winged animal. For the same reason that humans felt a reluctance to kill a tiger or wolf, it was a shame to kill a dragon.

The thought only took a moment but a freezing blast of wind caught Kalute full on with no time to dodge. He was knocked off his horse and fell heavily on the marble flooring. Automatically he struggled to stand up but his arm refused to work as if the pain had paralyzed it. What felt like a huge blockage in his chest stifled him making him struggle to breathe.

None the less Kalute managed to haul himself up and swing back onto the saddle. He cleared his throat trying to push pass the shock of the impact. Slightly dazed he shot an arrow, however the shot didn't have the impeccible aim he was known for. It hit it's target but with very little force.

Pain shot through Kalute's arm as soon as the shaft flew making him nearly drop the bow. He rolled his shoulder back pleased that it was not dislocated despite the blood seeping through his jacket.

Unsheathing his sword he rode down a dragon using the momentum to slice the blade through the scales. The dragon screamed furiously and rounded on Kalute but he took a hard turn and plunged his sword into the dragon's throat killing it.

A flash of Swarm magic rushed past his face so quickly that he couldn't even blink in surprise. Out of the corner of his eye Kalute saw an old man in flowing red robes but when he turned to get a better look he only saw empty space.

Branishing his sword with one hand and guiding the horse with the other Kalute had few options. He had nocked an arrow by holding the bow with his elbow but to fire meant letting go of the reins, that would mean instant death.

Struggling to navigate he barely managed to pull a stumbling stop, barly avoiding a fallen soldier. He peered at the pile of armor which lay limp but as he edged closer an arm gave febble jerk before the soldier slowly pushed himself up.

"Come on get up!" Kalute encouraged. The wounded soldier tried to make an extra effort but fell back.

"What's the matter? Are you Altean soldiers that _useless_?" Kalute roared forcing contempt into his voice. His mind was caught between the logical notion of leaving the dying man or the suicidal one of helping him. His brain wrestled madly with his conscious. Finally he decided that he could not be responsible for leaving someone to die.

Kalute swiftly swung off his steed then grabbed the soldier's shoulder pulling him up. "Get on!"

Not waiting for an answer he wrenched the soldier onto the saddle and sent the horse packing.

With the responsibility of his mount off his hands Kalute was free to fire his bow. But he had lost his advantage, he was a horseman not a swordsman.

From then on the battle went downhill for Kalute as he had predicted. He had misjudged the speed of a dragon and his own untrained agility.

Somehow he found himself backed into a corner with no where to run.

He was aiming a silver bow when somewhere to his right, outside of his sight a wing came flying at him.

Then everything seemed to slow down, Kalute couldn't move his body as the snow colored wing came slowly forward. He seemed to have been given an eternity to brace for the attack.

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Black.

So dark.

Fog.

Muffled.

Kalute slowly awoke but kept his eyes closed. He couldn't figure out what to expect, pain or the relief of death.

The strangest thing was that he felt alright, like nothing had ever happened.

A violent shaking broke his thoughts and forced his eyes open.

Mier and Radd were standing over him, the former with a disgusted expression on her face. Kalute sat up slowly but still feeling no pain he got to his feet, "I'm still alive." he commented nonchalantly.

"Yes you're still alive no thanks to you!" Mier snarled at him. "I swear! Healing you was a waste of a perfectly good Mend stave!"

"Aw don't be so hard on 'im. Kalute just can't steel his soft little heart!" Radd teased earning him a smack upside the head.

Shaking his head in disbelief Kalute looked around, they were outside of the temple. "So...did we win?" he asked sheepishly.

"Yes...yes we won." Mier stopped shouting and for once Kalute thanked the lack of oxygen.

Suddenly as if all his weariness was drained from his body Kalute stood up. It happened after every battle, even the most injured were suddenly rejuvenated as long as they weren't dead.

The horseman looked up at the sky wondering if it was the doing of some kind of deity. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Radd asked.

"That feeling, you know, of being healed."

Radd tilted his head, "Sorry, can't relate."

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**Author's Note: **Kalute, Mier, and Caid are all OCs, Radd was not in Book 2. This was just something I thought up at 4 in the morning.


End file.
